Members of the Asagba of Asaba Permanent Palace Building Committee have been charged to make transparency and accountability their watchwords.
The Asagba of Asaba, His Royal Majesty, Asagba Prof Epiphany Chigbogu Azinge, SAN, OON, FNIALS, gave the charge on Saturday at the ground breaking for the multi billion naira project.
Asagba Prof Azinge said he had anticipated that sons and daughters of Asaba would support the palace project once they could vouch for integrity of the process, stressing that every kobo contributed for the project must be accounted for.
His Royal Majesty recalled that in the course of his journey to the throne, he did promise to make the building of the Palace one of his priorities, having pursued the dream with missionary zeal, enthusiasm and commitment when he was the President – General of the Asaba Development Union, during which he commissioned the architectural drawings of the Palace and flowed it up to its completion.
He expressed delight that the people of Asaba had been able to achieve the milestone in the developmental trajectory of their land, describing it as historic, and commended a son of the soil, Architect Patrick Elikwu, for producing the architectural drawings free of charge, which gave impetus to the drive to build the Palace.
The Asagba thanked the people of Asaba for queuing solidly behind him and grandly demonstrating their support and solidarity in a way and manner far beyond his expectation, appreciating sons and daughters of the land who tasked themselves and donated generously to the project, even as he emphasized that a lot still remained to be done to have the project completed in a record time.
The highly esteemed traditional ruler announced with pride and delight that the money donated so far came from only Asaba sons and daughters, which clearly demonstrated that they meant business, noting, however, that the community might not be able to carry the huge burden of the project alone, hence the proposal to solicit the support of friends and well-wishers, public functionaries, business moguls, in-laws, government officials and public spirited Nigerians both home and in diaspora.
Asagba Prof Azinge, on behalf of the people of Asaba community commended one of their own, Mr Emma Odiaka, for single handedly fencing the large and expansive Palace ground, commencing work on the Palace gate and donating over One Hundred and Twenty Million Naira(#120,000,000) to the project, urging him not to relent so as to ensure that the Palace project was not abandoned.
He also thanked the Chairman and Okosisi Ahaba, Chief Uche Oduah, and members of his Palace Building Committee for working hard to make the ground breaking a reality, the Okpala Ebos, Diokpa Ogbes, Ndi Obi, Olinzele Ani, Nkpalors, Okwulagwes, Umuadas, Ikpoho Ogbes and Asaba sons and daughters in diaspora for their massive contribution to the Palace project, as well as the member representing the Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ngozi Okolie, for single handedly pledging to develop the Pavilion of the complex for a sum of Five Hundred Million Naira(#500,000,000).
The Asagba expressed appreciation to the people of Elibujor and Ogbeogo villages for donating the large expansive of land for the project, saying that Asaba people should comfortably look forward to the future with hope and great optimism in their capacity to achieve set objectives if they could collectively remain committed to them.
In a welcome address, the Chairman of the Palace Building Committee and Okosisi Ahaba, Chief Uche Oduah, represented by a former Delta State Head of Service, Sir Okey Ofili, said the project would comprised of the Asagba’s residential building, a pavilion, a library, a museum, staff offices, aesthetic landscaping, a gate house and reception.
Okosisi expressed delight that the project was coming at the time of Asagba Prof Azinge as the sitting traditional ruler of Asaba kingdom and assured that the project would rank among the best in the country, while transparency and accountability would be maintained in the execution of the project.
The highlight of the event was the symbolic foundation laying for the project by His Royal Majesty, Asagba Prof Epiphany Azinge.
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